Georgia Residents – Take Action to Save IVF
Posted on March 4, 2009
An email from Barbara Collura: Executive Director, RESOLVE
Dear Georgia Residents,
RESOLVE: the National Infertility Association needs your urgent and immediate action on a bill introduced in the Georgia State Senate. The Bill is SB 169 and would severely impact the ability for a patient to receive treatment for infertility in Georgia.
Senate Bill 169 would restrict doctors’ ability to perform IVF in accordance with best medical standards. Here are the key provisions:
- No more than 2 or 3 eggs could ever be fertilized in a cycle; if a woman produced more eggs, they still could not be used.
- Only 2 embryos could ever be transferred to the uterus, unless the woman is age 40 or over (then a max of 3).
- No extra embryos could be cryopreserved. If they are created, they have to be transferred.
- No financial relief, such as insurance coverage, is proposed to help with the added financial burden of using less effective treatment. Patients will still have to pay out of pocket for less effective treatment.
- Bans all financial compensation for donor gametes, such as egg donor, sperm donor, or embryo donation, which would greatly reduce the pool of available donors in Georgia.
The Georgia Senate Health & Human Services Committee will hold a hearing on this bill: SB 169 this Thursday, March 5, at 9:00 AM in Room 450 of the State Capitol. At the hearing, the committee will hear testimony on the bill. RESOLVE will be testifying as will a number of physicians in Georgia. RESOLVE and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) oppose. this bill and consider it bad medicine for infertility patients. The hearing is open to the public and RESOLVE encourages you to attend the hearing and send a letter to the Committee members before Thursday. To send a letter immediately, click here:
https://secure2.convio.net/res/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=219
RESOLVE is asking Georgia residents who care about open access to the best care possible to let the Committee members know before Thursday that you oppose these two bills. To send a letter or fax to the Committee, simply click https://secure2.convio.net/res/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=219
for a letter template that will be automatically sent to each of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee members. You can also call your state Senator even if they are not on the Committee and tell them you oppose these two bills. A full list of the Committee members can be found by clicking on the link below, then clicking on the Senators name for a link to their direct contact information:
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/senate/health.php
To find your senator, please go to:
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/FindLegislator.htm
Sincerely yours,
Barbara Collura
Executive Director, RESOLVE
To view the full text of the bills please follow the link below:
SB 169: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/sum/sb169.htm
» Filed Under Infertility, Resources
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4 Responses to “Georgia Residents – Take Action to Save IVF”
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If they are going to legislate to control it – then they better legislate to fund it too, otherwise, they can keep their legislation out of my uterus thank you very much.
This is just as bad as the senator from one of the southern states who wanted mandatory reporting of miscarriages – women would actually have a time limit in which to report to the police station and file a report!
The cluelessness and audacity of some people defies all sense.
Julia,
I agree 100%. If they want to legislate it, then it needs to be a covered benefit. I’m sure this is somewhat in response to the Octomom who has created a panic for states to protect themselves from another woman doing the same thing.
As you stated, they are totally clueless in what infertility treatments are all about and that the rest of us, Octomom excluded, want to do what is right, yet have the ability to build our families through medical interventions.
The piece in this legislation that cracks me up is the conflict within the language. First they state that only 2 or 3 (on rare occasion) can be transferred, but that none of the “extra” embryos can be frozen and instead must all be transferred. Idiots!
Kelly
What also just shows more of their ignorance, is the fact that HOMs come more from IUI and not IVF. The “octodoc” certainly was taking chances transferring so many embryos over – but the Dilley’s, McCaughey’s, Gosselins, Masches, Chukwu’s – all of them IUI. If they really are legislating to protect themselves from another HOM birth, IVF is just barking up the wrong tree! In some of those HOM instances I mentioned above, their doctor’s cancelled the insemination and advised them to refrain from intercourse; which they obviously didn’t. Are they going to legislate what goes on the bedroom between man and wife now?
Really, my take is this is just somebody with an agenda trying to use an extreme and rare case to further promote themselves.
The difference between IUI and IVF is something most people don’t understand. You are correct that they are barking up the wrong tree as IVF rarely has HOM, whereas IUIs are more risky. A friend of mine had quads from timed intercourse – not IVF!